Grizzlies Waive $20M Former First-Round Pick Just After Trading For Him

The Quick Flip

The Memphis Grizzlies pulled off one of the more confusing roster moves of the young NBA season: they traded for a $20 million former first-round pick known as a high-volume three-point shooter, then turned around and waived him almost immediately. If you blinked, you missed his entire Grizzlies tenure.

This isn't actually that rare in the NBA — it's just rarely this visible. Teams acquire players they have zero intention of keeping all the time. The guy becomes a trade chip, a salary-matching piece, or a way to unlock a trade exception, and then he's cut loose to hit waivers or free agency within days.

Why Teams Do This

Under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, salaries have to roughly match in trades (with some wiggle room for teams under the first apron). If Memphis wanted to move out a different contract or absorb an asset, sometimes the cleanest math involves a third player whose deal happens to fit perfectly — even if that player has nothing to do with the actual basketball reasoning behind the trade.

The $20 million price tag matters here too. A player at that number is valuable purely as a matching piece, regardless of whether he ever suits up for his new team. Teams also do this to avoid guaranteeing money further into the season, or to open a open roster spot for a younger player or two-way signing they actually want to develop.

What Happens to the Player Now

Once waived, the player clears waivers (assuming no team claims his contract, which is common for pricier deals) and becomes an unrestricted free agent. From there, he's free to sign with any team — often landing somewhere on a cheaper deal via the buyout market, or latching on with a contender looking for shooting depth off the bench.

For a high-volume shooter specifically, this kind of move can actually work out. Instead of being buried on a bench in Memphis behind the Grizzlies' established rotation, he gets to pick his next landing spot and potentially walk into a better role elsewhere.

The Grizzlies' Angle

For Memphis, this is about asset management more than it's about this specific player. The front office clearly values flexibility — cap space, trade exceptions, or roster spots — more than carrying a shooter who didn't fit their timeline or rotation plans. Expect the Grizzlies to use whatever cap flexibility or trade exception this move created before the season gets too far along.

It's a reminder that in today's NBA, a trade announcement doesn't mean much on its own. The real story is often what happens in the days immediately after.